Chapter 26 - MY GRANDDAUGHTER ASKS ABOUT GRANDMA VICTORIA
Victoria died at ninety-one.
Sophia attended the funeral.
Her choice.
I attended because she asked.
The eulogy included:
Business achievements.
Foundation work.
Criminal convictions.
Elena.
No sanitizing.
No spectacle.
Afterward, Sophia said:
“I’m glad they didn’t call her complicated.”
“Why?”
“Everyone is complicated. It doesn’t explain anything.”
Fair.
Sophia later married Daniel Brooks, an emergency physician.
No Sterling connection.
No arranged merger.
They had one daughter.
Elena Grace Brooks.
I cried when Sophia told me the name.
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
“Your mother would complain about being memorialized.”
“I know. That’s why Grace is there to dilute it.”
Perfect.
When Elena Grace was five, she asked:
“Who was Grandma Victoria?”
Sophia answered:
“My grandmother.”
“Was she nice?”
Sophia looked at me.
I stayed silent.
“She did some kind things and some very harmful things.”
“What harmful?”
“Grown-up story.”
“Did she love you?”
Sophia thought.
“I don’t use that question to decide whether someone was safe.”
May you like
My daughter had built better language than we gave her.
Good.
